This article explains how to understand your employees’ overtime balance, and how to troubleshoot it if it’s incorrect.

This can happen if work schedules, overtime policies, or time off settings aren’t set up correctly. You might notice unexpected deficit hours or overtime totals that don’t seem right. These errors can affect payroll and make it hard for employees to trust their attendance records, so it’s important to fix them.

Before you start

• Following the steps in this article might affect other employees’ overtime balance. Make a note of all the settings you edit as you go along, so you can revert them if needed.
• If the affected employee tracks time when their status is Inactive or Leave, the system records all hours they track on those days as overtime. 
  • This outcome only applies if the employee actually tracks time. If they don’t track time (as expected when their status is Inactive or Leave) the system doesn't automatically generate deficit hours. 
  • Other changes, like a new overtime policy, work schedule, or bank holiday, can trigger a recalculation of the employee’s overtime balance. However, the system still doesn’t automatically generate deficit hours for days without tracked time.
• Make sure you’re familiar with the following concepts:

Access and permissions

You must be a Personio Administrator to follow the steps in this article.

Check how far back the issue goes

If the overtime balance has been incorrect since before 1 November 2025, you won't be able to correct it yourself. Our system recalculates the overtime balance only up to this cut-off date. This means that any changes that impact the overtime balance only affect it up to this cut-off date. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the affected employee’s profile > Attendance > Overtime / Deficit.
2. Use the arrow on the top left to check the overtime entries of the last few months.
3. If you only see anything unusual after the cut-off date, move to the next section.
4. If you see wrong overtime entries and anomalies before the cut-off date, get in touch with us. Our team will help you fix the overtime balance. 

Check the affected employee’s overtime policy

This check is relevant if:

• No overtime is being calculated when it should be, or 
• If overtime is being calculated when it shouldn’t be.

Follow these steps:

1. Go to the affected employee's profile and click the Attendance tab.
2. Click the three dots > View overtime policy to see current and past policy assignments and their effective dates.
3. Check whether an overtime policy was assigned continuously across the whole affected period.
   • If there's a gap, or no policy was ever assigned, that's likely your answer if no overtime was calculated. Assign the correct overtime policy from the relevant date. 
   • If an overtime policy is assigned when it shouldn't be, you can unassign it. An employee can only track overtime if an overtime policy is explicitly assigned to them.
   • If a policy was assigned throughout the affected period, check that its settings are correct:
     • Calculate overtime is set to daily.
     • Track deficit hours if someone works fewer than expected hours is enabled.
     • Automatically record a full deficit on days with no tracked time is enabled, if relevant.
4. If the settings are correct, move to the next section.
5. If not:
   • Edit the settings and set an effective date for the change. If that date is in the past, the system recalculates the overtime balance for every employee on this policy from that date onward (as far back as 1 November 2025).
   • Check the updated overtime balance of the affected employee and other employees on this policy.
   • If only the affected employee's balance is still incorrect, move to the next section.
   • If other employees' balances are incorrect, revert the changes and contact customer support.

Check the affected employee’s work schedule

The work schedule doesn't control overtime settings directly. However, it does define an employee's expected daily and weekly hours, which the overtime policy uses as the baseline for calculating deficit and overtime. If the target hours themselves are wrong, this is where to fix that. 

Follow these steps:

1. Go to the affected employee’s profile and click the Attendance tab. 
2. In the Work schedule widget, click Show history to open the widget.
3. Make a note of the current work schedule name and effective date.
4. Go to Settings.
5. In the Time off & attendance section, click Attendance.
6. Select the relevant work schedule.
7. Click the Edit button and double-check the working schedule days and times.

Check the affected employee’s Attendance tab

1. Go back to the employee’s Attendance tab and ensure the employee has been actively tracking time since the effective date of the current overtime policy. Use the arrows in the top-left corner to navigate between months.
2. If they haven’t been tracking time correctly:
   • Click the three dots > View overtime policy. Hover over the overtime policy assignment during which overtime was calculated incorrectly. Click the three dots and select Replace assignment.
   • Select a policy with deficit-hours settings disabled, or unassign the overtime policy completely, then click Next.
   • Adjust the assignment's dates so they cover only the period the employee wasn't tracking time correctly. (To define an end date, click Make this assignment temporary.)
3. If they have been tracking time correctly, move to the next section.

Check your time off types' settings

If the time off types your employees request have incorrect settings, this might affect their overtime balance. Follow these steps to ensure they are correct:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the Time off & attendance section, click Time off.
3. Click the first time off type in the list.
4. Ensure the Reduce target hours and count any time tracked as overtime during time off? is set correctly.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all your time off types.
6. If the overtime balance is still incorrect, move to the next section. 

Check your employee’s time entries

If the steps above didn’t help you identify the root of the issue, checking your employee’s time entries in detail is the next step. Follow these steps:

1. Go to your employee’s profile > Attendance.
2. Click the title of the overtime widget.
3. Check the log. The table below these steps explains what each of the activities refers to.
4. Make a note of any anomalies, such as full working days in deficit or overtime. Ask yourself these questions, and double check with the affected employee:
   • Did you add or remove a public holiday to the calendar assigned to the workplace or company recently?
   • Did the employee forget to clock out or to track time on a specific day?
   • Did the employee track time on a day they were not working?
   • Were time off periods added or deleted?
5. If reviewing the log doesn’t explain the balance.